Cannes 2020: Wes Anderson, Sofia Coppola, and Paul Verhoeven Rumored For Competition

Cannes isn’t necessarily supposed to be a breeding ground for young talent as much as a showcase of the best and most well-known world directors. Of course, the “Un Certain Regard” sidebar section does have the task of discovering promising new young talent, but, for the most part, you go to Cannes to celebrate the famous auteurs.

Ever since being promoted as the director of the Cannes Film Festival, overseeing all artistic content presented at the prestigious annual fest, Cannes boss Thierry Frémaux hasn’t necessarily found that much new talent as much as continuing the traditions of this the greatest film festival in the world. Despite that, Frémaux’s 13-year tenure still includes many, now, renowned, directors having been discovered by his committee Frémaux’s mainstay at the festival has resulted in directors such as Cristi Mungiu, Celine Sciamma, Ruben Ostlund, Steve McQueen, Lazlo Nemes, Abderrahmane Sissako, and Kantemir Balagov being discovered. Not too shabby.

Of course, the below spitballing, this month’s updated list of the 27 potential contenders vying for a competition slot at this coming May’s 73rd annual Cannes Film Festival, will not include directorial debuts because those selections, for the most part, are very hard to predict. However, Cannes mainstays such as Apichatpong Weerasethakul, Paul Verhoeven, Leos Carax, Sofia Coppola, Wes Anderson, and Nanni Moretti are all expected to walk the red carpet this coming May.

Stay tuned for another update in mid-March

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Almost Certainly:

Mia Hansen-Løve’s “Bergman Island”
Apichatpong Weerasethakul’s “Memoria” 
Paul Verhoeven’s “Benedetta”
Leos Carax’s “Annette” 
Sofia Coppola’s “On the Rocks”
Wes Anderson’s “The French Dispatch” 
Nanni Moretti “Tre Piani”

A Very Good Chance:

Nadav Lapid “Untitled”
Chloe Zhao’s “Nomadland” 
Laurent Cantet’s “Arthur Rambo”
Kornél Mundruczó’s “Pieces of a Woman “
Kiyoshi Kurosawa’s Wife of a Spy
Bruno Dumont’s “On A Half Clear Morning“
Abderrahmane Sissako’s “The Perfumed Hill 
Kirill Serebrennikov’s “Petrov’s Flu”
Ulrich Seidl "Böse Spiele"
Pete Docter’s “Soul”

Could happen:

Ildiko Enyedi "The Story of My Wife"
Maiwenn "ADN"
Michaelangelo Frammartino "Il Buco"
Ana Lily Amirpour’s “Mona Lisa and the Blood Moon”
Taylor Sheridan's "Those Who Wish Me Dead"
Quentin Dupieux’s “Mandibules”

You Just Never Know:

Sean Penn’s ”Flag Day”
Abdelatif Kechiche's "Mektoub: Canto Duo"
Christopher Nolan’s “Tenet”